Northern Kentucky
Last Season Finished: 13-17 (7-7)
What happened to the last coach?
Northern Kentucky fired Dave Bezold after their season ended last year. Bezold was the coach as the Norse made the transition from D-II to D-I, but Northern Kentucky did not have much success under him at the D-I level going just 33-54 in 3 seasons.
Who is the new coach?
John Brannen
Head Coaching Experience: None
Record as a Head Coach: 0-0
John Brannen will take over the reigns as the Norse makes another transition. This time they are going from the Atlantic Sun conference to the Horizon league. It's an improve, for sure, but will come with another jump in competition. Can the Norse keep up? Brannen will have a lot to do with answering that question.
Fordham
Last Season Finished: 10-21 (4-14)
What happened to the last coach?
Tom Pecora just never found his footing at Fordham. The Rams never won more than 10 games in his 5 seasons at the helm and finished no better than 12th place in the A-10 standings.
Who is the new coach?
Jeff Neubauer
Head Coaching Experience: Eastern Kentucky
Record as a Head Coach: 188-134
Neaubauer really started hitting his stride with Eastern Kentucky. The Colonels have made 3 straight postseason appearances and won at least 20 games each of the last 3 seasons as well. In his 10 seasons at Eastern Kentucky they made 2 NCAA Tournaments and 2 CITs. He will be tasked with turning around a Fordham program that has not had much success. They haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 1992.
Eastern Kentucky
Last Season Finished: 21-12 (11-5)
What happened to the last coach?
See above. Jeff Neubauer took his talents to New York City. He will try his hand in the A-10 and see if he can turn around the Fordham Rams.
Who is the new coach?
Dan McHale
Head Coaching Experience: None
Record as a Head Coach: 0-0
Dan McHale inherits a pretty good situation from Jeff Neubauer. Eastern Kentucky has finished 2nd, 2nd, and 1st in the East Division of the OVC each of the last 3 seasons. That stretch includes 2 CIT appearances and 1 NCAA Tournament. McHale will be tasked with maintaining that success and building on it.
Tennessee
Last Season Finished: 16-16 (7-11)
What happened to the last coach?
The Volunteers fired Donnie Tyndall after just one season after discovering he lied to them about the severity of possible NCAA violations at his last job as head coach of Southern Miss. Tennessee back tracked swiftly when they discovered the lies and the extent of the possible violations.
Who is the new coach?
Rick Barnes
Head Coaching Experience: George Mason, Providence, Clemson, Texas
Record as a Head Coach: 604-314
See below. Barnes will come into Tennessee expecting to raise the level of the program. If he has the same amount of success there as he did at Texas, the Tennessee faithful will be happy. For a time. Elevating the level of Tennessee basketball will be his mission at first. Meeting and exceeding expectations will determine how long he is able to stay.
Texas
Last Season Finished: 20-14 (8-10)
What happened to the last coach?
For all the success Rick Barnes had at Texas, there were an equal number of disappointments. He made a Final Four and 2 Elite Eights. His teams made the NCAA Tournament in 16 of his 17 seasons with Texas. They won 20 games in 15 of 17. The problem with those numbers is that they didn't meet expectations. In a way, he was his own worst enemy. He got recruits. Good ones. He just didn't turn that into the expected successes. Finishing 6th in the Big 12 last season wasn't good enough, and he was fired.
Who is the new coach?
Shaka Smart
Head Coaching Experience: VCU
Record as a Head Coach: 163-56
Texas went after their man hard and got him. The search began and ended with Shaka Smart. It's easy to understand why. He took VCU to the Final Four and has had sustained success in the Colonial Athletic and then A-10 conferences. The irony in this hire is that Barnes was fired for not having enough success in the NCAA Tournament despite making a Final Four. Smart hasn't made it out of the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament since making the Final Four. Still, he's one of the brightest young coaches out there, and Texas made a smart move to go after him.
VCU
Last Season Finished: 26-9 (12-6)
What happened to the last coach?
See above. Shaka Smart turned down job offer after job offer. And then Texas called. He couldn't turn down that offer and left VCU after a tremendous amount of success there.
Who is the new coach?
Will Wade
Head Coaching Experience: Chattanooga
Record as a Head Coach: 40-25
Given enough time in the role, Wade would have taken Chattanooga to new heights. In his 2 seasons there, he brought the Mocs their first 20 win season in 10 years, won the 2014 Southern Conference coach of the year, and took the team to the postseason once. He will now get a shot to take over a VCU team that is well-known and already established. His job there will be to maintain the success of Shaka Smart and not build a program. No small feat, to be sure.
Chattanooga
Last Season Finished: 22-10 (15-3)
What happened to the last coach?
See above. Will Wade is one of the hottest up and coming coaches in college basketball. He was an assistant at Harvard and VCU before taking over as the head coach at Chattanooga. He was with the Mocs for just 2 seasons before bolting for VCU.
Who is the new coach?
Matt McCall
Head Coaching Experience: None
Record as a Head Coach: 0-0
Chattanooga has done a good job in the past of hiring promising young coaches. They've gone that route again with this hire. McCall was an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida for 4 years before taking this job and could be a great head coach. This is a great first gig for him because Wade is leaving Chattanooga in a good place. They can compete in the Southern Conference right away.
Arizona State
Last Season Finished: 18-16 (9-9)
What happened to the last coach?
Herb Sendek spent 9 seasons as the head coach at Arizona St. He had some successes as a Sun Devil, but they never quite got over the hump. They only made 2 NCAA Tournaments and missed the postseason altogether in 3 seasons. Arizona St. has higher expectations than that.
Who is the new coach?
Bobby Hurley
Head Coaching Experience: Buffalo
Record as a Head Coach: 42-20
Buffalo
Last Season Finished: 23-10 (12-6)
What happened to the last coach?
See above. Buffalo has to be lamenting the loss of Bobby Hurley. They only got 2 seasons out of the former Duke star, but he is handing off a better program than he inherited. It's a shame he didn't stay longer, but Buffalo can't dwell on that now.
Who is the new coach?
Nate Oats
Head Coaching Experience: None
Record as a Head Coach: 0-0
Oats was an assistant coach under Hurley for the last 2 seasons, so he's familiar with the system and school. Buffalo opted for the familiar choice here, and that could certainly pay off for them. Oats was an amazingly successful high school coach in Detroit. High school coaching is vastly different, of course, but some of the intangible coaching traits will translate.
Arkansas-Little Rock
Last Season Finished: 13-18 (8-12)
What happened to the last coach?
Steve Shields was the winningest coach in the history of the Arkansas-Little Rock program. But after 12 seasons, it was time for a change. Shields was let go at the end of the season.
Who is the new coach?
Chris Beard
Head Coaching Experience: None
Record as a Head Coach: 0-0
Chris Beard will get his first taste of D-I coaching when he takes the court for the first time as the head man of the Trojans. He has a lot of coaching experience at lower levels, although he doesn't stick around at anyplace for very long. He spent no more than 2 seasons with any of the teams he previously coached. Arkansas-Little Rock is hoping for more than that out of Beard at their program.
No comments:
Post a Comment